1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a tray for the containment of liquid-exuding foods, such as meat, fish or poultry, and a process for manufacturing the tray.
2. Background Art
In packaging for liquid-exuding foods, for instance meat, poultry, fish or the like, movement of the fluid is to be avoided. Meat juices flowing back and forth look unappetizing and can lead to soiling through drainage during unpacking or when the package is damaged. It is known to absorb liquid in food trays by manufacturing the trays from absorbent material or by providing an absorbent insert. The One prior art food tray has two laminae of watertight synthetic material with an absorbent insert in between. The inner lamina shell or upper lamina facing the food item has openings that facilitate the passage of the liquid to the absorbent lamina. The effectiveness of the absorbent lamina depends to a significant extent on the size of the openings. Further a three-laminae food tray as well as a process for manufacturing the tray are known. An absorptive material, particularly paper, is arranged between an upper and a lower lamina of synthetic foam material and at least the lamina that is oriented toward the packaged item is provided with fully penetrating openings. Through these openings, liquids exuding from the foods can flow to the absorptive middle lamina.
A fundamental disadvantage of the known trays is the difficulty of manufacture. Furthermore, the three-laminae tray consists of two different materials, namely, synthetic foam and paper and the waste accumulated during the production of the trays is not recyclable or is recyclable only at a disproportionately high expenditure.
In one known manufacturing process, a two-laminae packaging tray, consisting exclusively of synthetic foam, is known in which cavities are formed in the lower lamina by a deep drawing process. A disadvantage of this prior art arrangement is that the formation of the cavities requires its own deep drawing process.
Since food trays are typically a disposable item, costs of the item must be held to a minimum and efficient and cost-effective production techniques are sought. Of foremost importance in food trays is the liquid retaining capacity. Significant improvements have been made in the liquid retaining capacity by increasing the volume of space between adjacent lamina forming the tray. Food trays may be produced efficiently by forming an upper lamina and a lower lamina and joining the two laminae. The joined laminae are then deformed together by deep drawing at an elevated temperature. One problem with that procedure is that the liquid retaining space of the tray tends to be reduced in the deforming process, thereby reducing the liquid retaining capacity of the product.